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Number of the Beast
Synopsis Part OneStickleback: Number of the Beast Part One, 2000AD Prog 1824 After a theft is interrupted the lizard-like creature which was being stolen was caught in an explosion. Stickleback was revived by Orlando, five years after he died. Part TwoStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Two, 2000AD Prog 1825 Orlando told Stickleback that In the five years since he died the state has appropriated the workshops and warehouses which the Countess Irena Bernoulli had secreted across the country. Those with military applications had been kept by the state, though access had been granted to certain other technologies to such luminaries as Bazalgette and Brunel, who have proceeded to apply what they have learnt to transport, sanitation, communication and commerce. Professor Challenger had brought back a Saurian Hominid egg from South America, which has been used to breed hundreds of millions of drones. The Saurian Hominids, or Sorries seem to live for just a few years, are apparently passive, servile and obedient and have been intensively farmed until it is estimated that there are thirty for every human on the planet. After death, their bodies are ground into meal and fed to the next generation. Despite their apparent passivity there has been a recent attack on a Sorrie factory. Part ThreeStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Three, 2000AD Prog 1826 Stickleback went to see the White Lotus Empress to see his son, a request which is not granted and leaves the Empress's court with Miss Scarlet . The creature that was stolen was being kept in a large building where it had been laying eggs. Part FourStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Four, 2000AD Prog 1827 Stickleback and Miss Scarlet paid a visit on Dr Praetorius where they found out more about the Sorries, before being escorted from the building. Part FiveStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Five, 2000AD Prog 1828 They followed up with a home visit where they found that Praetorius had stolen some eggs and reared some warrior caste sorries to produce the correct concentration of bio-chemicals. Much more fierce and intelligent than their servant class brethren, nine of them had managed to escape, taking with them notes and journals regarding the medication of the queen. Henry lost control of his emotions and, due to the effects of the Sorrie bio-chemicals, turned into Edward Hide. Part SixStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Six, 2000AD Prog 1829 Hide killed Dr Praetorius and attacked Stickleback before Scarlet subdued him and injected him with the serum. Part SevenStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Seven, 2000AD Prog 1830 Paying tribute to the Rat Queen, Stickleback and Miss Scarlet were taken to see her in the sewers. Part EightStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Eight, 2000AD Prog 1831 While Stickleback and Miss Scarlet were in her presence, the domain of the Rat Queen was attacked by the Sorries, who had arrived in the sewers days earlier. Part NineStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Nine, 2000AD Prog 1832 The Sorries caught up with the trio, Stickelback buys them some time but they are cornered. Black Bob arrives to protect Stickleback. Part TenStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Ten, 2000AD Prog 1833 Bob revealed that he had stitched himself back together, and that Tonga was now part of him. Part ElevenStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Eleven, 2000AD Prog 1834 Having sent Miss Scarlet to take a message to the White Lotus Empress, guided by Moody, Stickleback and Bob entered the centre of the lizard queen's lair. Part TwelveStickleback: Number of the Beast Part Twelve, 2000AD Prog 1835 As his offer to help the sorries was rejected, Bob and Stickleback had to fight the lizards off. Their ammunition depleted, arsenic was dropped from the world above at the last moment. Emerging to the surface, Bob revealed Stickleback and a sorrie from within. Meanwhile, Bey had been resurrected as the City Father. Locations *London **The Monkey's Uncle **Lord Talbot **The Ash Tree Characters *Doctor Orlando Doyle *Stickleback *Countess Irena Bernoulli (referred to) *Professor Challenger (referred to) *Miss Scarlet *The White Lotus Empress *Targus *Doctor Septimus Praetorius, a cryptobiologist *Doctor Henry *Edward Hide, alter ego of Henry. *Moody Various *Rat Queen *Black Bob *Fiery Jack *Little Tonga *Valentine Bey *City Father Entities *The Brotherhood of the Book *Wold Newton Tours *Trotter's Independent Traders *Eckert's Alternatives Species *Saurian Hominids / Sorries Artifacts *Judas Silver Publication History *2000AD Prog 1824 - Prog 1835 *Number of the Beast (2014, collected with London's Burning) References Category:Stories set in London Category:Stickleback stories